


Where there's smoke

by MyLadyDay



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Firefighters, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eventual Smut, Firefighters, First Meetings, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, M/M, One Night Stands, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2018-08-09 20:20:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7815724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyLadyDay/pseuds/MyLadyDay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The three of them sticking together was the only thing that mattered, but Ace never expected to find a new family and maybe something more when only his transfer request went through, and he found himself in one of the most famous fire stations in the city.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Entire story beta'd by Aerle

Waking up was an experience, with the throbbing in his head and his lower back and in his right shoulder, from where he and the mystery man next to him stumbled into the apartment and almost taken out a wall in their haste to get the fuck inside. The headache, caused my lack of sleep, was already pissing him off, but at least he wasn't hungover so Ace considered himself lucky.

At least he'd woken up early enough to go back to his place and get ready for work at the new fire station he'd been transferred to. The thought of that only made his head throb a bit harder, but Ace dragged himself up, glancing at the man next to him for a moment, long enough to wish they'd had time for a third round. Even so, thinking about the previous night and the truly spectacular sex they'd had, Ace couldn't complain about anything. He was even contemplating leaving his number, in case the guy wanted to do this again.

He wasn't prone to relationships, considering his work took too much of his time and had been the reason people broke up with him every time. But he could remember the night before and meeting this guy, meeting being a strong word since they hadn't even exchanged names, and he'd mentioned his job was time consuming too. Maybe they'd work out as friends with benefits, Ace mused, with more benefits than friends though.

That didn't matter, though, not at the moment as he got out of bed, already missing the warmth and the fact he was comfortable in there as opposed to where he stood, naked and exposed to the winter air. With that as incentive, Ace dressed as much as he could, somehow managing to be quiet enough that the man still in bed, sprawled on his front, didn't even stir.

Ace struggled with the decision for a moment, before he left the bedroom as silently as possible and looked for a piece of paper in the living room to write his number down. Seeing the state of the room, though, only made him think leaving his number was a spectacular idea. It looked like a hurricane had come through and Ace could remember what happened to each of the scattered items and knocked over furniture.

The place looked like they'd been fighting, not making out like horny teenagers. He found his shirt by the couch and his jacket next to a knocked over and broken lamp. His boots had somehow ended up on top of the kitchen counters on the far end of the apartment.

It didn't take that long to locate and put on every wayward piece of clothing he was still missing before he finally got to writing his number down with a short apology for being half the cause for the mess. Totally worth it, though.

He was out of the apartment after that, stopping in the harsh cold in the street for a moment, only enough to orient himself and figure out where exactly he was in the city. There had been less drinking than one might think, but it was dark when they'd been walking from the bar and Ace had been horny and there were hands all over him so it was hard to focus.

Luckily enough, he wasn't too far from his place and Ace hurried, wanting to get inside again before he froze. At least his headache was kind of going away, but the annoyance at being transferred was still ever present. How could he not be annoyed, really, when he was the only one to transfer while Luffy and Sabo stayed behind with the team Ace had considered a family.

Well, close friends really. Only Sabo and Luffy were his family, though.

All the same, he really didn't want to move to a house in the district he now lived in. He'd heard things about those guys and their captain, but it was hard to say which of those were actually true. Every house had legends and a lot of them were just that, with just a couple of them having a semblance of truth about them. Ace sincerely doubted one of his new teammates dropkicked a pyromaniac into a burning building to stop him from throwing an explosive device into the crowd.

That didn't matter once he got home, jumping into the shower as soon as possible, both to wash himself and to get warm. He didn't waste time, though, getting dressed again as soon as he'd dried off, dreading going outside again, but doing it anyway to get to the station a bit early and introduce himself to the captain. It was only polite, after all.

To his surprise, there were already a couple of guys from his shift there once he finally made it to the station, hanging around in the common room. They didn't look surprised to see a new face, introducing themselves with more excitement than Ace had expected. Some of the ones just finishing their shift came over as well, but Ace doubted he'd remember them all.

"You're gonna love it here, kid!" the one that introduced himself as Thatch exclaimed, slinging his arm around Ace's shoulders.

"Probably like it better if you didn't call me kid, though," Ace replied, drawing a few laughs from the other guys around them. Ace felt bad for not remembering their names yet, but still, he didn't want to be there in the first place so there was that.

"You're here early, you have around half an hour more till the start of our shift," another one said, but Ace couldn't remember his name for the life of him.

"Yeah, I know," he said, "but I was gonna introduce myself to the captain before shift."

"You need to meet the lieutenant too," the guy replied. Jozu maybe? Something like that, Ace was sure. "Hey, Marco, come here and meet the new guy!" Jozu shouted to someone behind Ace and Thatch, making Ace removed Thatch's arm from his shoulder before he turned, wanting to get the introductions over with.

"Are you harassing him already?" a smooth deep voice said and something in Ace froze because he'd heard it before, a fact he'd confirmed as soon as he turned around and came face to face with the mystery men whose bed he'd left earlier that morning.

Ace didn't miss the slight widening of his eyes or the subtle look of surprise on his face, but that was it as far as reactions go and Ace did his best to school his features as well.

"Hi," he said instead, "I'm Ace."

The lieutenant gave him a subtle onceover, taking in his uniform now as well, in a more subdued manner than he'd looked at Ace the night before. He smiled then, all traces of impropriety gone from him as he offered his hand to Ace.

"I'm Marco," he said pleasantly. "Nice to meet you."


	2. Chapter 2

Marco turned out to have a very impressive poker face, and Ace found himself slightly surprised. Impressed too, if he was willing to admit it. Very much intrigued as well, which was damn unfortunate given that sleeping with your superior was most likely against the rules, and Ace somehow found himself wanting to do that again.

Well, he'd wanted to do that again since he woke up that morning, but the feeling hadn't changed after finding out who Marco was, which could pose a problem if Ace didn't rein himself in.

Still, the conversation around him continued as everyone else wasn't in on what was going on in his head, no one suspecting anything at all. No one was overly focused on him, not even Marco, as they all talked around the table.

He didn't let himself linger on Marco at the moment, though, as he made his way towards the captain's office on the floor above the common room and kitchen. There were two cups of coffee in his hands, given to him as soon as he excused himself and mentioned where he was going, one for the captain and one for himself. Whoever made his coffee seemed to have guessed what he liked, and Ace was slightly suspicious of that, but that too was put out of mind as he took the stairs two at a time, careful not to spill anything.

The captain was a man with an astounding reputation, someone even Shanks respected greatly, and Ace focused on that instead, as he walked out of earshot from the rest of the guys. For a moment, Ace was slightly nervous about meeting the man who would be giving him orders from that point forward. Respecting your captain meant a lot in their line of work, which was partially the reason he stayed in the suburbs with Shanks for as long as he did, even though they'd mostly saved cats from trees and answered calls from lonely old ladies.

It wasn't bad, he knew that, spending even ten minutes a day with one of the lonely elderly people in their district, knowing that they were helping in one way or another, something that was in their job description. Ace just wanted to do more, considering he was capable of it, and that was the reason he, Sabo and Luffy had decided to request a transfer in the first place.

Now he was in this new station all alone amongst a tightly knit group that seemed like an actual family from what little he saw of their interactions so far and he felt as if it was a mistake. His family was in that small fire station on the outskirts of the city and for a moment, Ace was afraid he might not fit in here.

Funny how fast the focus of his worry shifted, his unwillingness to be there without his brothers changing into worry that he wasn’t cut out to be in the same team as people who put out as many fires in a week as Ace used to in two months or more.

Having a crisis while standing in front of his new captain’s office was probably a bad way to start his first day at work, but Ace couldn’t help it, the urge to just find his phone and call Sabo to talk some sense into him almost overwhelming. The door in front of him opened suddenly, though, and Ace barely stopped himself from startling and spilling the coffee he was holding.

“I thought I smelled coffee,” the captain said, sounding amused, but Ace couldn’t tell for sure from where he stood, light streaming from the window behind him, making it impossible for Ace to see his features. “Come on in, son,” he added before stepping to the side, letting Ace pass.

“Thanks,” Ace mumbled, slightly unsure why he was thanking him in the first place.

He couldn’t explain it, but the worry was almost gone, replaced with confusion and a bit of curiosity. This stranger called him ‘son’ with nothing but warmth in his voice, sounding welcoming instead of wondering who Ace was in the first place.

“I’m Ace,” he said after clearing his throat, nervously setting the two cups of coffee on the desk in front of him while the captain moved around him to sit back in his chair. “Just wanted to come by and introduce myself before shift change.”

“Have a seat, Ace,” he was told with a grin. “The boys can manage downstairs without you for a while so have some coffee with me.”

It was almost funny, how he referred to the rest of the team as boys when they were anything but, yet he still managed to sound like a proud father as he’d said it. That put Ace at ease more than he thought was possible at the moment, so he smiled before taking a seat. He sipped at his coffee, unsure of what to say, though.

“I’m captain Newgate,” the captain said, sparing Ace the responsibility of speaking for the moment, “but you can call me Whitebeard, like the rest of them do.”

“But you don’t have a beard,” Ace blurted out before he could think better of it. He snapped his mouth shut a moment too late, but Whitebeard was already laughing loudly, completely unrestrained and not even a bit insulted, from what Ace could gather.

"Sorry," he still said, immediately taking a sip of his coffee to hide behind the mug.

"It's fine," Whitebeard said, wiping distractedly at his eye, "you're not wrong. I'm not sure why they call me that, but it's stuck so why change it?" He laughed a little before drinking his coffee as well.

"So what brings you to us, son?" he asked as he set the mug down, still looking amused, but his expression turned more serious as he leaned a bit forward, giving Ace his full attention.

"We just wanted to do some good and help people," Ace said simply, not sure how detailed his response was meant to be. "My brothers and I," he added in explanation.

"Are those the two that applied for a transfer from Shanks' house too?" Whitebeard asked, and Ace could only nod at that.

"We only needed one of you, to replace Izou," he continued and considering Whitebeard's tone was light and Ace was pretty sure he'd met Izou earlier, the reasoning to replacing him wasn't as tragic as it could have been.

"Why'd you pick me?" Ace asked, genuinely curious, but also unsure where that question came from.

Whitebeard only grinned at him, though, as if he knew something Ace didn't. "From what Shanks tells me, I think you'll fit right in," he said, sounding somewhat cryptic,  and Ace had no idea what to make of it. "Beckman spoke highly of you, too, and I learned to trust his word when it comes to this."

Even though it probably shouldn't have been a surprise, it still took Ace for a loop. Benn was a great lieutenant, slightly easier to take seriously as a superior than Shanks, but he wasn't one to shower the team with praises. Shanks usually did that, very often actually. Benn, though, gave praise where it was due and didn't treat them like children, complimenting them on absolutely everything they did.

"He helped me pick you, actually," Whitebeard said, snapping Ace's attention back to him. He was grinning underneath that impressive moustache of his, and Ace still wasn't too sure what to think of the man.

"What do you mean?" Ace asked, reaching for his mug before he realized with a start that it was empty already, making him wonder just how long he'd been in there already.

"Benn was Izou's temporary replacement," Whitebeard said. "I think he just couldn't wait to go back home. Tried to take Marco with him, too. I think Shanks put him up to that," he continued with a loud laugh, Ace joining in as well when he tried to imagine Marco in their little fire house in the suburbs.

"Shanks told us Benn was taking a well deserved vacation these past few weeks," Ace said with a chuckle. He should have known better than to think Benn would just take a vacation like that for weeks. Not that he didn't deserve it, but as far as Ace could remember, neither Benn nor Shanks took a vacation since Ace started working there.

"I don't think Shanks knows what a vacation is," Whitebeard said and laughed again.

He was beginning to like the sound of it, the warm joyous laughter that almost made him feel like home, as much as that surprised him. Luffy laughed with just as much freedom, and Ace was sure that similarity had to be the reason. It was startling to realize that he was actually liking it there a bit on the very first day already. Sabo and Luffy wouldn't let him hear the end of it, after all the grumbling he'd done in the week or so since Shanks told him his request was accepted.

Whitebeard glanced at his watch as he drained the last of his coffee, before setting his mug next to Ace's.

"You better got down to the kitchen, son," he said, once again grinning at Ace. He was slowly getting used to that too, the reassurance of that grin and the way Whitebeard called him 'son'. "Izou's probably done with making breakfast and you don't want to miss that."

"You're not eating with us?" Ace asked, but already stood from the chair and grabbed both of the empty mugs.

"I'm too old to fight over food with you boys," he replied with a short laugh. "Besides, if I ate with you lot, I wouldn't get to hear all the gossip from Izou when he brings me food up here."

Ace laughed at that, surprised at himself a little for laughing this much after he'd decided he wouldn't like it, but there was no helping it at this point. Whitebeard was more likeable than he'd been expecting.

"Just go ahead and don't worry about me," Whitebeard told him, and Ace only nodded with a smile, turning towards the door without a word. He had no idea what to say anyway.

"Son?" Whitebeard called out just before he opened the door, and Ace turned towards the desk again. "I'm glad we have you on our team," he said with a broad smile, hands resting on the desk in front of him, looking remarkably like a proud parent.

"I'm glad to be here," Ace replied, his smile probably nowhere near as bright, but his words held more truth than he was willing to admit to himself at the moment.

He left the office then, both mugs in one hand as he closed the door with the other. Turning towards the stairs brought him face to face with Marco, though, and Ace considered it luck that he hadn't dropped the mugs, as surprised as he was, managing to only mumble a startled 'holy fuck' before he reined himself in.

Marco looked as if he saw right through him, though, which was both infuriating and kind of hot, but Ace was determined to steer clear of thinking about the latter. He was leaning against the banister, arms crossed before his chest, looking as if he might have been waiting there since Ace had gone in. They were alone here, however, and Ace figured it was as good a time as any to address the elephant between them.

"Are you going to tell me I should transfer out because of last night?" Ace asked, successful at keeping his voice curious instead of as accusing as his words might have suggested.

The question seemed to surprise Marco, making him frown for a moment. "Why would I do that?" he asked, sounding confused and looking it, with the way he tilted his head to the side just a tiny bit.

"You're my superior now so I'm guessing we shouldn't be sleeping together," Ace said with a shrug of his shoulders, feeling less awkward about this conversation than he'd anticipated. "Which is fine and I get it, but I'd rather not transfer again."

"I wasn't gonna ask you to," Marco said, smirking at him, but he looked far more amused than seductive, like the night before, which was a big relief. "I just wanted to make sure this wouldn't be awkward. I had no idea who you were since we didn't introduce ourselves, which was probably a mistake in hindsight."

"Yeah, I could have been a murderer," Ace said with a snort, watching as Marco scoffed at the words. "Or your boss. Imagine that," he added, just because he couldn't help it.

"The old man's your boss," Marco told him, the corner of his lips curling up despite him trying to look serious.

"Technically, so are you, _lieutenant_ ," Ace said, pronouncing Marco's rank in a way that turned out more like an innuendo than he aimed for, but it was kind of too late to take it back. Thankfully, Marco took it all in stride, raising an eyebrow as his gaze bore into Ace.

"You're a little shit, aren't you," Marco said, voice flat, but the amusement there was unmistakable at this point.

"I would never," Ace said, doing his best to imitate Luffy's innocent face. He doubted he'd pulled it off quite as well as Luffy did, but from the way Marco narrowed his eyes, Ace figured he'd at least got him wondering, which was a definite win as far as Ace was concerned.

"I don't believe you," Marco deadpanned, "but I'm letting it slide for the sake of getting downstairs for breakfast before Jozu and Thatch eat everything."

Ace just laughed at that, but followed when Marco stepped away from the banister and made his way downstairs.

"So, is Shanks still rescuing cats on a daily basis?" Marco asked once they were downstairs, sounding genuinely interested, if not a tiny bit amused.

"Nah, he lets the newbies do that," Ace replied with an easy grin. If nothing else, he felt at ease around Marco, which was exactly what led to the whole thing the night before, and it was easy to fall into easy conversation now that they've dispelled the awkwardness between them with humor.

"He does answer the weekly call from Ms. Tsuru, though. I'm pretty sure they spike each other's coffee," Ace added, laughing at the thought of that. He was definitely going to miss some of the 'emergencies' they had.

"Old lady Tsuru's still alive?" Marco asked incredulously. "She must have been a hundred back when Izou and I first started there. Shanks was the lieutenant then, he only transferred to Foosha shortly before we got there."

"You used to be stationed in Foosha?" Ace asked, equal parts curious and amused as Marco nodded.

"It was just for a short while after the academy, but I doubt I'll ever forget the experience," Marco told him with a laugh before settling down at the table, Ace taking the empty spot next to him.

"I doubt anyone would be able to forget working with Red," Izou said with a scoff as he and Thatch set the last of the plates on the table. “He's the whole reason I can't look at a bottle of rum without feeling like my stomach might implode."

The rest of the guys around the table snickered at that, but Ace could only nod in sympathy.

"Someone bought him a bottle of John Crow Batty rum last year," he said, remembering it as if it happened yesterday, when he'd found out just how strong rum could be. "One of the newbies almost passed out from the smell alone, but I'm pretty sure Shanks downed half a bottle and still managed to beat the rest of us in a round of basketball. Benn made a lot of money betting on that, too."

Of course, they weren't on shift when that happened, but that day was the reason why booze became prohibited at the annual barbeque for the team and their families. Or any other get together, for that matter.

Marco laughed, though, around a mouthful of pancakes. "They still do that, huh?" he asked, glancing at Ace, only laughing harder when Ace frowned.

"No one ever believes a person can drink as much as Shanks can and still live to tell the tale," Marco explained, reaching for the pot of coffee in the middle of the table to pour himself a cup. "I've seen Benn bet on Shanks in a lot of situations that involved booze and gullible people."

“Remember that time he drank a bottle of whiskey in Ray’s bar, beat a bunch of college kids at pool and almost got his ass kicked for it?” Izou asked with a laugh, before adding: “By both the college kids and Shakky because Ray gave him their most expensive whiskey for free and Shanks didn’t know how to appreciate it.”

"To be fair, Ray almost got his ass handed to him that time too. Shakky was scary," Marco added, sipping at his coffee, smiling at the memory he obviously thought of as fond.

Ace, though, found himself missing Shanks and his shenanigans outside of the station, reminded once again of the time he started out in the Foosha station. Until he'd seen Shanks outside of work hours, Ace had thought he was the most intimidating person ever. Ridiculous, now that he thought about it. Benn was far more serious, though even he acted like an oversized child sometimes, especially when around Shanks.

Izou was just about to say something else, maybe share another memory of their time in Ace's previous station, but the alarm cut him off, blaring through the kitchen area. Everyone sprang to their feet, shoving the last of their breakfast into their mouths before waving Izou off and going down to the truck.

Ace didn't miss the way Izou made to join them before catching himself and staying behind, but he had other things to focus on as he followed the others to where their suits were. He could do this part with ease, practiced to jump into the boots and overtrousers where they were prepared for them, pulling his coat on once the overtrousers were on and suspenders secure over his shoulders. The gloves were last, secured as he made his way to the truck.

"Ace, you're with Thatch," Marco said as he was securing the helmet on his head. "Stay with him unless he tells you otherwise."

"Got it," Ace said, feeling a bit like he was being treated like a child, even though he was every bit a firefighter as the rest of them were, but he said nothing, swallowing that urge to argue. He was new and came from a station that didn't normally deal with as many fires as one might think. For all his training, and as much as it pained him to admit it, Ace knew he was unfortunately inexperienced.

He was also excited, though, because this was the exact reason why he'd wanted to transfer to the city. Getting a chance to do this on his very first day was almost unbelievable, but Ace didn't let himself get distracted with thinking about that, instead following Thatch onto the truck before they were driving down the street, the sirens disrupting the silence of the city.

The drive didn't take long, whether it was due to light traffic or the absolutely insane way Jozu was driving, Ace didn't know, but their goal was more than obvious with the plume of black smoke marking it. They stopped in front of a small apartment building, the thick smoke coming out of a first floor window. There were already spectators nearby, some of them in their pajamas and looking utterly disgruntled, making it obvious they lived in the building and were forced to rush out.

"Ace, come with me," Thatch said, moving towards the building as soon as the truck had stopped. "We need to make sure everyone's out," he added over his shoulder as they made their way inside.

There was no fire alarm, which was weird in itself, but both of the ground floor apartments were empty so Thatch led the way upstairs, taking the stairs two at a time. Until they reached the first floor. The door to the right obviously led to the apartment where the fire had started, judging from the smoke coming from under the door.

Ace immediately went to the other door, banging on it loud enough to raise the dead while Thatch did the same at the door opposite him, trying to make sure there was no one in there without actually opening the door yet.

"Go up," Thatch told him as someone else ran up the stairs to join him before they were ready to go in.

Ace didn't stick around for that, though, running up the stairs and repeating what he'd been doing. Banging on doors was hardly the exciting part of being a firefighter people mostly imagined, but it was more thrilling that waiting while Luffy climbed a tree to get a cat out of it.

"Ace," Haruta said over their comms, "all the apartments should be evacuated except 3A on the third floor. You're looking for an elderly woman and her dog."

"Got it," Ace said, hurrying up to the apartment Haruta mentioned before he knocked on the door loudly. He could hear a dog whining inside, already fearing the worst even though the fire was two floors down.

"Ma'am, I'm with the Moby fire department," Ace said, leaning closer to the door, unwilling to break it down. "I need you to evacuate the building. It's for your own safety."

The whining sounds increased before the dog barked, and Ace was ready to break down the door at this point, and he would have, but the old lady spoke then, obviously addressing the dog. Not a moment later, the door opened and before Ace could say anything, he caught sight of the little old sweet looking lady and her dog that was fighting its way around her to get to Ace.

What he'd been expecting was a poodle. Maybe a yorkie.

Definitely not a full grown Great Dane barreling towards him, giving him only enough time to shout a distressed 'what the fuck' before there were huge paws on his chest and he was falling back under the weight of what felt like a horse at the moment. His back hit the floor with a very loud thud, the sound of it mixing with his painful groan and the barking directed straight at his face.

“Jesus Christ!” Ace shouted, pushing at the dog to get a very sharp looking set of fangs out of his face, unable to focus on the voices calling his name through the comms. "What the hell?!"

Thatch appeared on the stairs just as Ace was losing all hope of survival, because the dog was fucking heavy, as if all his gear wasn't already, and Ace was already out of breath.

"What is that?!" Thatch yelled, looking stunned as far as Ace could see, but that was honestly the least of his worries.

"Frodo, get off of him!" the old lady's voice joined the cacophony of voices Ace could hear, but he couldn't find it in himself to care too much with the dog on him and all that. "Frodo, now!" she shouted again, and this time it seemed to work, the weight easing off Ace's chest before Thatch was helping him up, looking wary for a good reason, as far as Ace was concerned.

The woman managed to clip a leash on the hellhound before Thatch turned to her.

"Ma'am, you and your dog need to come outside with us," he said politely, though he stumbled over the word 'dog' because that was obviously something else entirely.

At least she made her way downstairs without a fight, leading the dog in front of her as Ace followed.

"You okay, kid?" Thatch asked, worry evident in his voice. "Do I need to carry you down?"

"Please don't, I'll be fine," he replied. "Still not a kid, though."

"Ace, come in!" Marco's voice sounded into his ear. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine, on my way down with the old lady from 3A," he said, sounding slightly out of breath. At least he could say the experience was unexpected.

"Ace got up close and personal with Frodo," Thatch said right after, prompting several confused replies from the rest of the team. He didn't answer any of their questions, though, going down with Ace in silence, seemingly undisturbed by Ace's glare.

The glare only intensified when they got out of the building and the first words to greet them came from Haruta.

"Is that Frodo?" he asked with a snicker. "What happened?"

"I'm sure Thatch is gonna tell you all about it when we get back to the station," Ace replied with a grimace, already feeling the bruises forming on his back where he'd hit the ground.

Ace was not looking forward to much at the moment, including getting back to the station and having to tell everyone just what happened, because he knew he'd have to since Thatch hadn't seen the whole thing. Just thinking about having to tell Sabo and Luffy made him groan out loud, but luckily, the attention was diverted from him as Marco came out of the building.

His helmet was off so Ace could see the raised eyebrow and the way Marco's eyes were shifting between Ace and the dog, but thankfully, he said nothing about it.

"We're done here," he said seriously, though Ace was sure he saw a hint of annoyance on Marco's face. "Kitchen fire caused by someone who doesn't know how to cook or wasn't awake enough to do it."

The way he said it revealed that he probably saw this kind of thing one too many times, and Ace couldn't really blame him; people were often idiots, having the flame under their pots or pans too big and leaving it unsupervised. All it took was a dishrag left too close and the whole place could go up in flames. If nothing else, Ace was grateful for this job because Luffy had finally become more responsible while cooking, even if his food usually tasted like toxic waste.

"I'm going to let the people know they can go back inside," Marco said, turning towards the small crowd of underdressed people a short distance away. "Ace, you have time to go say goodbye to Frodo, if you'd like. It's rude to just leave after an encounter like that."

With that he was off, leaving the whole team cackling around Ace, making him narrow his eyes at Marco's retreating back.

He knew he was not going to hear the end of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> John Crow Batty rum is in the 10 strongest drinks in the world.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who's alive. it's not me, but at least i'm updating. this is a sorta interlude so i don't keep everyone waiting for even longer

“So what you’re saying is, you had sex with your boss and got tackled by a horse of a dog on the very first day?” Sabo asked with a curious mix of amusement and incredulity in his voice before he took a sip of his beer, sitting on the couch with his elbows propped up on his knees, looking like he was waiting for the most exciting news of his life. “I’m sure everyone is very impressed with you right now.”

“Shut up, Sabo,” Luffy said, scolding Sabo with a frown on his face, and it warmed Ace’s heart that Luffy would come to his defense. “I’m glad he made two new friends on his first day.”

Luffy said it with such an innocent face, it took Ace way too long to notice the sarcasm, but when he did, the groan he let out made both Sabo and Luffy laugh out loud. Luffy somehow managed to stay his innocent self through the years, but that didn’t stop him from picking up the actual worst qualities Sabo and Ace possessed. Usually, it was really amusing to watch him sass people when they thought he was completely serious, but Ace couldn’t say he liked it when it was turned on him.

“I don’t even know why I tell you guys anything,” Ace said with a loud groan, even though he knew he’d always tell them everything. He wasn’t even really annoyed at the teasing, considering he’d done the same thing when one of them mentioned doing something embarrassing, though Luffy wasn’t embarrassed by much.

“Because you love us,” Luffy said cheerfully, at the same time as Sabo said: “Because you never learn.”

“You two suck,” he said with a snort, though his words held no heat.

Ace had to admit he missed their near constant teasing and messing about ever since he’d left Foosha. Sure, the Moby was a fun firehouse to work in, but they were all still pretty much strangers to him. He was too used to working with Luffy and Sabo.

“Aw, don’t pout, we didn’t mean it,” Sabo said, obviously teasing him again while Luffy just snickered and didn’t bother hiding it.

“Can we talk about something else?” Ace asked, probably sounding more exasperated than he meant, but they both knew he wasn’t actually mad or anything. The teasing about Marco, though, was a bit too weird. After being around each other for the past week, Ace had gotten used to thinking of him as a teammate and superior officer, not the guy he had a one night stand with, which was definitely for the best. Especially since he hadn’t completely gotten over wanting to repeat that one night stand just yet, but he figured that was normal considering they’d had fun.

“Well,” Sabo started and Ace knew he had something important to say by the way he set down his bottle on the coffee table so he paid attention, stopping his train of thought about Marco before it could escalate, “I have some news.”

“You’re accepting the transfer!” Luffy shouted excitedly before Sabo could say what his news were.

“You got a transfer?” Ace asked, looking between the two of them. “Why does Luffy know and I don’t?”

“Dad told me about it,” Luffy replied, still grinning while Sabo sighed with exasperation, though he didn’t mean it probably. It wasn’t easy, being mad at Luffy.

“Yeah, I got a transfer to Baltigo,” he said, smiling a bit even though he still looked a little annoyed. “I figured I could take it since Ace already left Foosha.”

“You should! Dad’s really glad to have you there,” Luffy piped in, looking more excited than he had when Ace was the one leaving.

He supposed he could understand; Sabo got a choice whether he wanted to leave or not now that Dragon offered him a spot at Baltigo. Ace, however, didn’t since the Moby needed a new member to replace Izou. He had been a bit sad and disappointed so it was only natural that Sabo and Luffy had been as well.

“You know he’d like you to go too,” Sabo said, looking at Luffy.

“I know,” he replied, “but I don’t want to go to his station. I’m staying with Shanks.”

Ace couldn’t say he was surprised to hear that decision, really. Luffy’s love and admiration for Shanks ran deep and there wasn’t much that could change that.

“Are you going to move too?” Ace asked, looking at Sabo. Baltigo was a district closer to where Ace lived than to Foosha so it was pretty obvious what his answer was. He was already thinking of how to make room in his apartment so Sabo could stay with him.

“Yeah,” he said, suddenly turning sheepish as he tried hiding behind his beer. “Koala lives close to where you are so I’m moving in with her.”

As usual, Ace had a hard time not teasing Sabo about how smitten he was when it came to Koala. But they were so sickeningly adorable, more than they had a right to be in any case, and Ace couldn't help but be jealous from time to time. This may have been one of those times, only because Marco's face flashed before his eyes completely uncalled for, which only served to confuse the jealousy away.

"I don't think I've ever seen Ace speechless for this long," Luffy said with something like awe in his voice, bringing Ace's attention back to them. He coughed awkwardly, then took a sip of his beer to hide the fact he'd zoned out like that for the weirdest of reasons.

He really needed to deal with this thing about Marco before it got more weird, Ace knew that, but currently there was no solution coming to mind.

And neither was a response to what Luffy said, but luckily Ace was saved by the sound of his ringtone. Not even a moment later, Sabo was throwing Ace's phone at him and no one was asking why he was so out of it all of a sudden.

Seeing the caller ID hardly helped, though.

"Hello," he said once he picked up, his throat somehow unnaturally dry for some reason.

"Hey," Marco said, and he had the gall to sound more composed than Ace. "You have half an hour to meet us at the address Thatch is texting you right now."

Ace barely stopped himself from startling when his phone buzzed right next to his ear.

"I can't," Ace said, looking over at Sabo and Luffy, noting they were both very curious, but trying to hide it. Poorly. "I'm hanging out with my brothers."

"Take them with you," Marco said without a second thought. "See you in half an hour."

With that, Marco hung up, leaving Ace confused.

"So what are we doing?" Luffy asked, grinning with excitement, making it impossible for Ace to say no.

"I guess you're meeting my new team."

Both Sabo and Luffy looked far too pleased with that prospect, which only confirmed Ace's fear that this was a colossally bad idea. Unfortunately, there was no way for him to do anything about it, so with a sigh, Ace opened the text from Thatch and prepared for the worst.

He was still hoping for the best, though.

"Stop being dramatic and go get your coat," Sabo said with a scoff, making Ace regret everything before they even left the apartment.

**Author's Note:**

> Ace is around 28 here and Marco is around 35, just so y'all know ^^


End file.
